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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Awe of the Wind

Wind

In our vast country we are blessed to experience many different
climates, diverse environments and a variety of different weather. We’ve already
seen the Pacific coast, mountains, prairies, desert, and the boreal forest of
the Canadian Shield. Of all the different things Mother Nature has thrown at
us, wind presents the biggest challenge by far.

Whereas a mountain looms high above you, its imposing
stature striking fear into your heart, it has a summit. Get to the summit and
your legs stop burning and you can bask in your accomplishment on the descent
down the hill. Wind, on the other hand, does not give you a preview of what’s
to come. There is no summit to strive for, not an indication of gradient to
tell how hard the next section will be, just a brutal soul-crushing force
working against you, making every pedal stroke a battle. Imagine balancing all
your weight on two points of contact no bigger than a few square inches and
then trying to get where you’re going and there is an invisible force pushing
and pulling you at over 70 km/h. A headwind can make it feel like you’re towing
a tractor trailer behind you and crosswinds feel as if an invisible team of
strongmen are having a tug of war and you are the flag in the middle of the
rope.

As with many physically demanding feats, when battling wind
the rider must look within to have the strength to succeed. There are a few
techniques that may help get a rider where they need to go while in the grips
of a gale:

1.The
Lieutenant Dan: Remember that scene in Forrest Gump when Lieutenant Dan
“makes his peace with God?” Yelling and screaming with each torrent thrown
their way, Lt. Dan Taylor begs for more, insisting that the storm isn’t that
that bad. In riding terms it translates to refusing to shift to a lower gear,
gritting your teeth and attacking into the wind as if you’re trying to catch
Mother Nature herself to give her a piece of your mind. Swearing and yelling
may accompany this technique as well, though passing motorists may alert the
authorities that a crazy man is on the loose.

2.The
Little Engine That Could: Let the power of positive thinking wash over you.
Click into a gear you can spin in comfortably, don’t let the lack of speed get
you down and push play on the imaginary reel of inspirational movie quotes in
you head. It may be hard riding and it may take you a while but you set a goal
and through positive determination you’re going to make it.

3.I
Doubt I Will But I Might: This technique usually rears its desperate head
towards the end of a long ride. You’ve eaten all your bars, your bottles are
almost empty, you have no money and you’re feeling so fatigued you’re seeing
spots. At this point you’re considering ALL your options to get you to the end
of your ride: I could fake a mechanical breakdown, I could knock on a stranger’s
door (despite his mean looking dogs), I could rob a convenience store for
sustenance, I could call a cab, hop on a bus, call my roommate or friend or
even a hated enemy. In the midst of weighing all these options, you’ve fought
the wind the entire time and you now find yourself close enough to your
destination and you’ve made it, barely.

4.The
Quitter: You’ll never need to know any of these techniques because as soon
as you see the wind blowing, you aren’t leaving your house. You will certainly
have a great excuse like, “I had a big day yesterday,” or “I won’t be able to
train in my appropriate zone in that wind,” but everyone knows you’re too
chicken to willingly put yourself into that kind of difficulty.

Anything you can do to get you
through the wind is a good thing. Every day you fight the wind should bring you
closer to the exhilaration of a tailwind. For all the times you can hate the
wind with every ounce of your being, they all seem to fade away when you turn
that corner and the wind is at your back. With that glorious blessing at your
back, you can fly faster than your legs alone could ever take you. Whether
you’re 10 years old or 50 years old, you can’t beat the feeling of pedaling
your bike and going fast.